The challenge
Rural students lacked access to technology and learning materials, and test scores lagged.
The case
From 2008, Peru's Ministry of Education ran the largest One Laptop per Child program in the world, giving 902,000 low-cost laptops loaded with educational software to students and teachers, mostly in rural primary schools. A randomized evaluation in 318 rural schools compared those that got laptops with those that had not yet received them. After 15 months, treatment schools had 1.18 computers per student instead of 0.12, and students used computers much more, both at school and at home. But the study found no evidence of effects on math or language test scores, and only some inconclusive evidence of better general cognitive skills. The evaluators estimated the effect on the average math and language score at 0.003 standard deviations, with a standard error of 0.055.
Why it didn't work
Even when the laptops were used, handing out hardware did not improve learning on its own; what children do on the devices has to be tied to what they need to learn. A small rigorous pilot would have flagged this before a costly national rollout.
Sources
- Cristia, J., et al. (2017). Technology and child development: Evidence from the One Laptop per Child program. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics.
- Cristia, J., Ibarrarán, P., Cueto, S., Santiago, A., & Severín, E. (2012). Technology and child development: Evidence from the One Laptop per Child program. IDB Working Paper 304 (published 2017 in AEJ: Applied Economics).
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